Queensland nursery growers who are keen to sharpen their pest and insect mite management skills are encouraged to attend an upcoming workshop being held at two leading nurseries in Queensland this week.

The workshops will be run by NGIQ and the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (Queensland) and are aimed at providing practical information on how to better manage pests and insect mites using an integrated crop management approach.

More specifically, the workshops will cover:

How to implement or improve cultural management practices

Methods to detect plant problems and implementing a monitoring plan for early detection

How to conserve natural enemies or use commercial biological control agents

Pesticide rotations for most pest groups

Farm walks at the respective host nurseries and a guide on how they manage their farm in relation to pests and disease management.

Participants are strongly encouraged to bring plants that have an unknown problem. As much as possible, seal plants in a bag or box to contain the sample to reduce risk of spreading the problem.

If visiting your nursery before the workshop and/or handling plants, please change clothes prior to arrival, as this will reduce spread of pest and disease while on the farm walk.

The workshops will be delivered by Andrew Manners and John Duff. It forms part of the co-funded QDAF, Hort Innovation and nursery levy funded project, Building the resilience and on-farm biosecurity capacity of the Australian production nursery industry.